Tender Prey: The Shuffle Challenge
by Em Dixon
Summary: I did a shuffle music challenge. #1: Sokka's dreams from the final battle aren't pretty. Some things stick with you and refuse to let go. Rated M for graphic violence.
1. Water Pressure

So, I was hanging out on the katara_zuko lj group and skylar0grace posted about doing a music shuffle challenge. I decided to do the challenge, too. Put your music on shuffle, write for the duration of the song. This is what came of it. I wrote for 10 songs, and here's the first.

I'll give a warning here, too. This is M for graphic violence. You are warned.

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><p><strong>Water Pressure - Petri Alanko (Alan Wake soundtrack)<strong>

There was always something lurking around the corner, some sharp object waiting to impale him. Sokka tried to run, but his feet were always tripping over each other. He hadn't been a clumsy boy since he was six, but it never seemed to matter when it really needed to matter.

Space sword was gone. It was in his hand one second, but when he went to swipe at a face, it was gone, dissolved into a harmless piece of wood. Which, of course, caught fire. That was always a big part of his fear; he didn't want to catch fire, and because he thought of it, he could see it. He was standing in front of himself, except he was on fire, and that smell, that _smell_ it made his stomach churn, and he wanted to throw up, but his eyes were transfixed, his body glued to the spot. He had to watch himself burn, his skin crispen and turn black, black black, break through and bloody pink spilling down his cheeks.

All at once, the fire would flare, and mercifully, he would be consumed all at once. Mercifully, he could never hear himself scream, but in the last flare up of light, he could see shapes in the distance, just hovering on the edge of the light. Dancing on the edge of the light. Perhaps it was just too dark and he couldn't see his space sword. But he did. He did then, because it was poking through his stomach, red and glistening and black and red and his blood was dripping down it, plop plop plop on the ground, but there was no pain, for which he was grateful.

But he looked up, and he was back in the Fire Nation, and everything was on _fire_, even when it shouldn't be. The temple, the temple, the houses, they were burning, bodies were burning, and again that smell, sickening, and it was blood that came out of his mouth, not bile, not acid burning his throat, which would be a welcome relief.


	2. My Boy Builds Coffins

**My Boy Builds Coffins – Florence + The Machine  
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Katara draped herself over Zuko's shoulders as they sat in the garden. She watched him whittle away at a toy boat for their son.

"Uncle showed me how to do this," he said.

She kissed his neck. It was charming. She'd told him how, in the South, fathers often made toys for their children, and these were far more precious to the child than anything that could be bought at market. He'd always been determined that their children know they were both of fire and water. So while they may live in the palace in the Fire Nation, they would also spend time in the South each year, and when their oldest turned thirteen, he would go ice dodging.

"The babies are kicking me," Zuko said softly. "I can feel them."

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><p>AN: This might have worked better as an AU, and I thought about doing that, but I had to hurry before the song was over. This was done instead. But it's got steam babies, so that counts for something, right?


	3. The New Season

**The New Season – Clint Mansell (Black Swan soundtrack)  
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Zuko chose not to sit on the throne during his first council meeting. It was important to him that his people see their leader and understand him to be a person and not a god. The council was clearly nervous with his closeness, particularly given the stories spreading about how he redirected the lightning.

Some of these men and women would call him a hero. Some of them would still call him traitor and usurper. They would not accept his victory as legitimate, but they would accept the power he brought to the throne. Their new Fire Lord didn't come alone. He came with the last Southern waterbender and the only female Master. He came with the captain of the Kiyoshi warriors, he came with the Chief of the south's son. He came with the only child of the Bei Fong family. He came with the Avatar.


End file.
